The National Defence Academy (NDA) announced that a majority of military training activities of boy and girl cadets will be conducted together, in mixed groups. The NDA added that it is all set to train the first batch of cadets in a complete gender-neutral manner, starting June 2022.
In a press release, the NDA explained that this is an important move, especially because employed women will have to command troops of men. “With minimum changes to the existing curriculum, the training in academics, drill, outdoor training, etc will be conducted in an absolutely gender-neutral manner. However, owing to physiological differences between male and female cadets, the aspect of physical training may entail certain changes in the training of girl cadets,” the release stated.
A similar method of training exists in the pre-commissioning training academies such as the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai, the Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Ezhimala, and the Air Force Academy (AFA) in Hyderabad. The first batch of girls will start their training in June 2022, and it will go on for three years. After that, the cadets will join service academies.
“Akin to their male counterparts, girls of the age group 16½ to 19 years will undergo three years of military training after successfully clearing the UPSC NDA written exam, Services Selection Board (SSB) interviews and medicals. A total of 19 vacancies namely, 10 for the army, six for the air force, and three for the navy have been allotted by the respective service HQs for the first batch of girls at NDA,” the release informed.
Image Courtesy: New Indian Express